Mersenne, Marin (1588–1648)

Marin Mersenne was a French monk, philosopher, and mathematician best remembered for his work
to find a formulate to generate prime numbers based on what are now known as Mersenne numbers.
However, he was not primarily a mathematician; he wrote about music theory
and other subjects, edited works of Euclid, Archimedes, and other Greek
mathematicians, but most importantly corresponded extensively with mathematicians
and other scientists in many countries. At a time before scientific journals
existed, Mersenne was at the heart of a network for information exchange.